Is Coding Over? Why Learning to Code Is Really About Learning to Learn. – By Christina Lewis, EdSurge
We are now living in a technological world and the future of work is this: Tech workers will no longer solely work in the tech industry. Every field will hire employees with strong digital skills, and this trend will only continue to accelerate.
To prepare for this reality, there are a growing number of learn-to-code organizations exposing students as young as Kindergarten to computer science education. And it makes sense. The hypothesis operates like something of an “if-then” statement, a mainstay of computer science: If coding is the language of tech, and tech is the future of work, then young people need to learn this language in order to succeed in their upcoming careers. In essence, coding is a ticket into the party—being able to tell the computer what to do is an entryway into our technological world and, therefore, a path to upward mobility.
This is certainly true to a degree. But simply knowing how to code does not guarantee a lucrative career. Why? Because knowing how to code today does not mean you will know how to code tomorrow.
Programming languages change all the time. Teaching only coding really isn’t enough to future-proof young people’s careers. The real skill that guarantees you a job in the technological world is knowing how to learn these skills.
Florida passes bill to promote career training in schools – By Brendan Farrington, AP News
Florida schools will help students plan for careers even if they don’t want to seek a four-year college degree under a wide-ranging education bill sent to Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday.
The bill is a priority for DeSantis, who called for the changes in his State of the State speech that opened the 60-day legislative session. The bill was unanimously passed by the House and Senate on the 59th day of the session.
“This is the most transformational thing we have done in education since Gov. (Jeb) Bush presided over us,” said Republican Sen. Travis Hutson. “There are so many good things in this bill.”
The bill will require schools to place a stronger emphasis on vocational and technical training and apprenticeships, beginning with required courses for middle school students on career and education training. The idea is to get students to begin thinking about their career options once they graduate from high school and how to achieve those goals. The state will track high-skilled, well-paying jobs that are in high demand and help train students who are interested in those careers.
It will also let students use vocational and technical education as a pathway to meeting high school graduation requirements.
Oregon House to vote on $2 billion education revenue, reform bill – By Natalie Pate, Salem Statesman Journal
After nearly a year and a half of work, the Legislature's Joint Committee on Student Success passed its new education package out of committee Monday evening, just a day before the end-of-April goal.
House Bill 3427, formerly HB 2019, now heads to the House floor with a do-pass recommendation. It was approved by the joint committee in a 10-6 vote, split on party lines.
Sen. Tim Knopp, R-Bend; Rep. Greg Smith, R-Heppner; Sen. Kim Thatcher, R-Keizer; Sen. Chuck Thomsen, R-Hood River; Rep. Cheri Helt, R-Bend; and Rep. Sherrie Sprenger, R-Scio, voted against it.
The committee — 16 legislators from both sides of the aisle — has met with educators, families and business leaders across the state since January 2018 to figure out what's going well in schools, and what isn't.
They came back this session to outline their priorities and how to fund them.
From a lack of diverse staff and social-emotional learning opportunities, to unsafe buildings and scarce mental health services, the committee quickly found there are numerous factors influencing students' success in and outside the classroom.
Ransomware disrupts standardized testing in Idaho school district – By Colin Wood - edscoop
Computer systems used by a school district in Madison County, Idaho, were disabled by a ransomware attack on Tuesday, just as teachers and students were preparing for standardized state testing.
Administrators detected the attack quickly and shut down all servers and computers, said Chester Bradshaw, superintendent of Sugar-Salem Joint School District #322, according to EastIdahoNews.
Bradshaw said no information was lost or compromised but the internet connection required to conduct the Idaho Standards Achievement Test, or ISAT, was unavailable and testing has been postponed.
Ransomware often finds its way onto a network after a user clicks on a link in a phishing email and hands over credentials. If ransomware is detected early enough, administrators can sometimes purge the malware before it has a chance to propagate to the center of the network and encrypt the victim’s files.
